LIGA BBVA | BARCELONA 1-0 LEVANTE
Tito Vilanova's side were made to work for their victory, which they got thanks to a goal in the 84th minute by Fábregas. Earlier, David Villa had missed a penalty.
Barcelona took one step closer to securing their 22nd La Liga title after recording a narrow win over Levante at the Camp Nou thanks to a late winner by Cesc Fábregas.Tito Vilanova fielded an under-strength side for the match, with Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg with Bayern Munich firmly on his mind.
Leo Messi, wrapped in cotton wool before the trip to Bavaria, watched the game from the stands alongside Gerard Piqué, while Sergio Busquets was named on the bench. Four full backs started in defence due to the club's centre-back injury crisis, but the most notable inclusion was Eric Abidal, making his first start since returning to football after undergoing a liver transplant a year ago.
The Frenchman produced a solid performance but the same could not be said of his team as a whole, who struggled to break down their dogged opponents.
Barça were awarded a penalty in the first half when Andrés Iniesta fell on the byline after a challenge by Pape Diop, but Keylor Navas guessed the right way to keep out David Villa's spot kick.
Levante could have taken a shock lead in the second half when Acquafresca shot past Víctor Valdés, but the linesman wrongly gave him offside.
It was one of the few occasions the visitors got into their opponents area, but Levante did an exceptional job of keeping Barça at bay, until Fábregas struck with six minutes left on the clock.
Substitute Alexis Sánchez saw the former Arsenal man free and laid the ball off to him, and Fábregas's low shot was too quick for Navas, and nestled into the bottom corner.
The Barcelona dugout erupted and Tito Vilanova embraced his substitutes and coaching staff.
If Atlético Madrid can beat Real next weekend at the Calderón, Barça can wrap the title up with victory at San Mamés.
0 comments:
Post a Comment